Stringed musical instruments

ABSTRACT

A musical instrument, particularly suited to be played by plucking using one hand, has sets of strings extending over a sound board or table, each set having its own bridge, and each set of strings being tunable to sound a chord the pitch of which can be altered simply by sliding the associated bridge lengthwise of the strings.

United States Paten Robinson Dec. 25, 1973 STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS3,181,409 /1965 Burns et a1 84/307 x n e or: Aaan Thomas Robinson, 114Mount 3,358,543 12/1967 Musser 84/173 St., London, W. 1, England PrimaryExaminer-Richard B. Wilkinson [22] Filed: June 16., B72 AssistantExaminer-Lawrence R. Franklin 21 APP] 2 3 455 Att0rney--Roberts B.Larson et iii [52] US. Cl 841/173, 84/284, 84/290 [57] ABSTRACT [51]Int. Cl. Gl0d l/00 A musical instrument particularly Suited to be played[58] Field of Search 84/173, 284, 285,

84/290 297 307 314 by plucking using one hand, has sets of stringsextending over a sound board or table, each set having its own bridge,and each set of strings being tunable to [56] kefiergnces Cited sound achord the pitch of which can be altered sim- UNITED STATES PATENTS plyby sliding the associated bridge lengthwise of the 479,323 7/1892Bagdasarian 84/284 strings. 1,604,573 /1926 Hawkinson 84/307 2,486,54911 1949 Bonkowski et al. 134 173 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures .4. 29!???00 OTQ 0O (PC0000 QQOOOT OQQOW:

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STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS DESCRIPTION This invention relates to astringed musical instrument of the kind capable of being played byplucking, and comprising a sound boardor table and a plurality of setsof strings extending over the sound board or table.

According to the present invention, a musical instrument of the kinddescribed has its strings arranged in sets, each tunable to sound achord and has a separate bridge for each chordal set of strings, whichbridge supports the associated strings between their ends clear of thesound board or table and is slidable over the sound board lengthwise ofthe strings simultaneously to adjust the effective lengths of allstrings of its associated chordal set to change the pitch of the chordsounded.

The instrument can be played by plucking by hand or by a plectrum andusing one hand only and may be plucked either side of the bridge so thateach chordal set of strings may sound two different chords. Also theposition of each bridge can be readily adjusted by one hand and thebridges are retained in position against the sound board or table by thetension in the strings. The instrument is thus especially suitable forhandicapped persons.

One form of musical instrument of this invention will now be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the instrument,

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic section on the line 22 of FIG. 1, and

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate suitable forms of bridge.

The instrument as illustrated comprises a rectangular sound board 10,which may form the belly of a boxbody or may be mounted on legs as atable, with attached strips 11 adjacent and parallel to the shortersides of the board to provide the fixed nuts for the strings. Beyond onenut 11 there are fixed pegs 12 for the strings, and beyond the other nutthere are pegs 13 by which the strings are tuned.

The strings are arranged in a number of sets, live sets 15a, 15b, 15c,15d and le each of six strings in the illustrated instrument, and eachset has an associated bridge, 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d and 16c respectively.Each bridge supports its associated strings clear of the sound board andhas for this purpose a notched ridge 17 (FIGS. 2 to 4) upstanding from abase 118. The base 18 is slidable over the sound board and has portionsprojecting from each side of the ridge 17 so that the bridge does nottilt under the loads applied by the tensioned strings.

It will be clear that by sliding for example the bridge 16a lengthwiseof the tuned set of strings 15a, the pitches of the two chords soundedby plucking on either side of the bridge 16a and as determined by therespective string lengths between the bridge 16a and the nuts 11, orbetween the bridge 16a and an auxiliary movable bridge 20, will beraised and lowered respectively.

Since the lengths of the strings of a set to one side of the bridge arealways equal, moving the bridge only affects the pitch of the chordsounded.

The sound board 10 may have scale markings, as shown, indicating thepositions of the bridge to give particular chords, and for example asshown in FIG. 3 the bridge may have a surface 19 leading vertically fromthe undersurface of the base 18 to the peak of the ridge 17 thereby tofacilitate correct positioning of the bridge relatively to a scale mark.

The sound board may if desired be provided with a sound hole asindicated in broken lines in F IG. 1.

I claim:

1. A stringed musical instrument for playing as by strumming, saidinstrument comprising a sound board or table, and a plurality of sets ofstrings extending over the sound board or table, and a pair of spacednuts contacted by the strings adjacent their ends, characterised by thefeatures that the nuts are parallel, that the strings of each set areadjacent, are of the same length between the nuts and are tunable tosound respectively the different notes of a musical chord, that the setsof strings are tunable to sound different chords, and that a pluralityof bridge members are provided corresponding in number to the number ofsets of strings, each such bridge member supporting only the strings ofits corresponding chordally-tuned set of strings and being slidable incontact with the sound board or table lengthwise of the stringssimultaneously and proportionately to vary the vibration lengths of allthe strings of the chordally tuned set thereby to select the key of thechord to be sounded.

2. A stringed musical instrument according to claim 1, the bridge havinga ridge for engagement by the strings and a base projecting from eachside of the ridge.

3. A stringed musical instrument according to claim 1, having one ormore auxiliary slidable bridges each associated with a respectivechordal set of strings.

1. A stringed musical instrument for playing as by strumming, saidinstrument comprising a sound board or table, and a plurality of sets ofstrings extending over the sound board or table, and a pair of spacednuts contacted by the strings adjacent their ends, characterised by thefeatures that the nuts are parallel, that the strings of each set areadjacent, are of the same length between the nuts and are tunable tosound respectively the different notes of a musical chord, that the setsof strings are tunable to sound different chords, and that a pluralityof bridge members are provided corresponding in number to the number ofsets of strings, each such bridge member supporting only the strings ofits corresponding chordally-tuned set of strings and being slidable incontact with the sound board or table lengthwise of the stringssimultaneously and proportionately to vary the vibration lengths of allthe strings of the chordally tuned set thereby to select the key of thechord to be sounded.
 2. A stringed musical instrument according to claim1, the bridge having a ridge for engagement by the strings and a baseprojecting from each side of the ridge.
 3. A stringed musical instrumentaccording to claim 1, having one or more auxiliary slidable bridges eachassociated with a respective chordal set of strings.